The Fresh Air of Nowhere
by astrangetypeofchemistry
Summary: If Thalia was saying 'sorry', then she must really feel bad about this. "Hey, Thals, it's okay. We'll have fun in... sweet, old Virginia. Two months, yay... Cheer up!" Which was hypocritical because Annabeth wasn't cheery about Virginia. Not in the least.
1. Chapter 1

**The Fresh Air of Nowhere**

With her murderous death glare, Annabeth Chase was not to be taken lightly.

Her peers knew this. Her friends knew this.

Heck, people who met her just once knew this.

Unfortunately, her own mother didn't.

"Don't give me that look, young lady," Athena Chase said, giving her daughter a look. Annabeth tried to tone it down, but she couldn't.

So she took up the option of going up to her bedroom and sulking. Of course, because the world hates her so much, her phone had to ring. And Annabeth was ready to strangle when she saw who had called.

"I'm so so so so so sorry, Annabeth," the caller rushed out, and it just made her eye twitch. No amount of 'so' could stop this murder from happening.

"I thought you loved me," she managed to choke out, her voice still coming out calm and controlled. In reality, she was ready to rip out some intestines.

And before you ask, these kind of thoughts _are_ healthy for a 17 year old girl.

"I was just mentioning it in passing like 'Maybe Annabeth could join us' and next thing I know they called your mom and told them. And she agreed. So you should blame your mom, Annie, not me."

"Don't call me Annie," she deadpanned, too used to saying this sentence fifty times a day.

"Right, sorry." And it was the use of 'sorry' that made Annabeth blink.

If Thalia was saying 'sorry', then she must really feel bad about this.

"Hey, Thals, it's okay. We'll have fun in... sweet, old Virginia. Two months, yay... Cheer up!"

Which was hypocritical because Annabeth wasn't cheery about _Virginia_. Not in the least.

"Tomorrow evening, Annie. Pack up and come here by 3:30. Or we'll miss the flight somehow," Thalia informed her after a half-hour of talking about the promises of Virginia. And even though you shouldn't nod to someone through the phone, Annabeth did, because Thalia would know. She always knew.

"See ya then."

* * *

When she saw Nico, she had to stifle laughter.

The poor boy looked so sullen, Annabeth almost pitied him. But then she remembered that _she_ was the one getting dragged to a compete stranger's house.

She allowed herself a smug smile when Nico looked at her, and he scowled at her.

"Hello, Sunshine," she greeted him, and he gave her his special finger. She gasped, mock-scandalized. "Well, that wasn't nice. How would Bianca react if she found out her dear, dear, _dear_ brother was _-"_

"Shut it, Chase. You're the one getting dragged to meet with strangers."

It was a bitter truth, and since neither of them were happy about this, they decided on a truce.

* * *

Somehow, they ended up on a plane that had two seats in every row.

Of course, she got lucky when she saw that she was sitting next to Jason.

Jason was the only one out of the others who actually understood Annabeth's love for academia. Mostly because he possessed it.

In fact, throughout the years, they had even kept a friendly rivalry. They had the same exact GPA, however, meaning that they were both eligible to be valedictorians. The school had had no idea what to do.

"Anne," he greeted her, tilting his head slightly in her direction.

"Jase."

They both started an intellectual conversation about the theme of "Paper Towns" by John Green.

* * *

"PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" a girl's voice shouted.

Thalia and Nico smiled maliciously, whereas Bianca and Hazel just gave one of those 'I-miss-those-moments' smiles. Meanwhile, Jason and Annabeth narrowed their eyes in disapproval.

A guy with uncombed black hair was running around with a choppy-haired girl on his back. Despite her yelling, the girl was laughing.

"The best of times," Annabeth muttered under her breath, then turned to Thalia. "What's your cousin's license plate number?"

"P-S-J-8-1-8."

Jason nodded. "Let's look for it then."

They walked around the parking lot and found that the license plate belonged to a dark blue Honda Pilot. The model was probably from 2010 or 2011.

"This is it," Bianca said, her gaze scouring around the car. "But where is he?"

"Maybe he got lost," Annabeth suggested, rousing laughs from Thalia and Nico, head shakes from Bianca and Hazel, and a small smile from Jason.

Maybe Thalia or Nico would've commented, but just then, the guy and girl from earlier came again, still in the same position.

"PUT ME DOWN, YOU DOOF!" the girl cried, and the guy set her down on the ground right next to the car.

"Happy?" he mocked.

His companion retaliated by narrowing her eyes at him and gritting her teeth before muttering out a "Very."

They stood in a glowering contest before breaking out into laughs.

"Your cousins," the girl choked out.

"Should be here," the guy breathed.

"We are here, you Kelp Head," Thalia said loudly, making sure they could hear. They turned to the sound of her voice.

It was quiet for a moment.

Quiet.

Quiet.

"OH MY GODS, THALS, IT'S YOU! THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU, YOU WERE SO TINY!"

The guy jumped on to Thalia, hugging her tightly, and Annabeth saw Nico fail to stifle his laughter. As soon as the first chuckle broke through, Percy turned to him.

"OH MY GODS, IT'S BABY NICO! HE WAS STILL IN A CRIB LAST TIME I SAW HIM! LOOK AT YOU!"

Needless to say, Nico became the object of a bone-crushing hug as well.

"Percy, you're making everyone uncomfortable," the girl who had been with 'Percy' said, and he coughed awkwardly before pulling back to stand next to her again.

"Sorry," he muttered under his breath then looked at all six. "Introductions?"

Thalia rolled her eyes at him, and Annabeth had to hide her grin. This guy was acting like he _didn't_ know them after practically jumping on two of them.

"You know Thalia," Jason said, taking charge. "And Nico. I'm Jason. That's Bianca," he said, nodding to the girl with a green hat on, "that's Hazel," he tilted his head towards the younger girl with gold eyes, "and this is Annabeth," he finished, nudging Annabeth with his shoulder. Annabeth decided not to stand next to Jason if they were ever in the same position again.

The guy with the green eyes nodded. "Right. Well I'm Percy, and this is my lovely _Valentine_ , Piper."

He said 'Valentine' in a mocking tone, one that Annabeth didn't understand the reason behind. And judging by the way that Piper grinned, it was an occasional joke.

"Where's my rose?" she teased.

Percy replied with something not exactly PG-13, causing Piper to put her hand on his mouth. "Not. Another. Word. I mean, there are _kids_ here." She teasingly waved at all six of them, as if they were the only grown ups here. It made Annabeth's cheeks flush from embarrassment.

"What was that scene we saw?" Hazel asked quietly, trying to diffuse the tension from Piper's words.

Percy and Piper grinned at her, rolling their eyes as they exclaimed "Memories!" in unison. They received an eye roll from Jason, Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico. Bianca and Hazel just smiled.

"Let's get in." They waved everyone into the truck.

Don't ask her how, but instead of ending up in between Thalia and Jason, Annabeth ended up riding shotgun. Piper immediately claimed the seat right behind the driver's to be hers, making Hazel and Jason sit next to her as Bianca sat with Nico and Thalia in the back. Which left her all alone with the doofus who likes running around the airport with his 'Valentine' on his back.

"Don't kick my seat," he playfully warned Piper as he drove out of the parking space. Piper blew a raspberry in response.

"Uh... Percy?" Annabeth said hesitantly, feeling nervous in her seat. "Is it dangerous to be siting shotgun while you drive? It doesn't seem like the safest thing."

Piper guffawed from behind her. "Don't worry," she said in a comforting tone. "Percy only goes above the speed limit like fifty times in one drive." The grey-eyed blonde was not reassured.

" _Relax_ ," Percy said, his tone mischievous. "It's not like I'm going to drive off a cliff."

"Are there cliffs in Virginia?" Nico called from the back seat. Percy grinned maliciously.

"Maybe."

Annabeth internally sighed of exasperation.

* * *

 **Shall I continue with this? Three reviews saying yes means an ambush of pranks.**


	2. Chapter 2

**You overacheievers. _Seven_ reviews for chapter 1. I got my three yes reviews right away, so thanks for that.**

 **riptidedauntlessgryffindor, Sportygirl247 (Zoë), and Thalassina (Thals.)**

 **And I want to thank HammerSlammer21, Percabeth lover, Guest, and CammieBishop for reviewing anyway. Your reward is Chapter 2. Fun for the whole family.**

Grinning mischievously over to his companions, Leo Valdez slipped in through the door.

"I bet nobody even realizes we're in here," the elfin boy said, feeling sneaky.

"Leo," a stern voice said, and he almost peed his pants as he whipped around.

"Jesus, Sally, don't scare me like that!" A hand had come to rest above his chest, where his heart was beating erratically.

"You're here to ambush my son, and Piper, who is almost like a daughter to me." Leo gulped nervously as the older woman stared at him for a long time. "Try not to make a mess," she said finally, reaching for her bag slung onto the wall. As she slipped out to go to work, Leo turned back to his partners in crime, who were wearing identical grins.

"We'll make them pay," the shorter one, Connor, said.

"I can't believe they got Katie good," the taller one, Travis muttered.

The Stoll twins were notorious for wanting revenge on the P Team.

"Yeah, yeah," the hyperactive Leo muttered, his nerves suddenly flying through the roof. "Which one of them do you reckon cares more about their hair?"

The three of them looked at one another, plotting a revenge where Percy and Piper would be unable to tear their hands away from their hair. It's what they get for always running their hands through it.

"Maybe we should add in silly spring," Connor suggested. "To sort of make it juvenile."

"We're not kids, you idiot. We need justice. Justice, I say." Leo's scrawny fist smacked into his palm as Connor got his head pushed by Travis.

"Let's make them pay."

"FOR KATIE!"

"Wish Travis would realize he was in love with her," Leo mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Hidden from Travis, the two boys shared an exasperated look that seemed to say "sexual tension is so not funny."

What would you know about it, Leo? You don't meet Calypso until-

Whoops. Said too much.

* * *

"I have a brain and it actually works," Percy said sometime during the drive. From behind him, Piper added in her own two cents.

"Jumped off a train and into the dirt."

"So together," they both shouted in unison, "we'll burn the ground down... We're gonna bomb your frown."

Using her hands, the girl with the kaleidoscope eyes pretended to play electric guitar before laughing as Percy made an abrupt turn.

"Are you two terrorists or something?" Thalia shouted from her seat.

"Yep."

"Been planning to burn down America since we were born."

"It is our sole purpose of living."

Piper collapsed into laughter again, stopping only when Percy stopped the car at the corner of a street. He motioned for everyone to stay in as Piper practically sat on Jason's lap, trying to see out of the windshield.

The person in the driver's seat snorted, and Annabeth turned to him, raising an eyebrow silently.

"I bet the best they could come up with was attacking us with silly string. Idiots," he said, shrugging to look back out. Her grey eyes followed his gaze to see the curtains to a house jerk shut immediately.

"Travis," Piper grinned, blinking repeatedly. "He must be getting revenge for Katie."

"Does he know she's actually a soy for our side?"

"Clearly not."

The two of them stared at each other, the other six people in the car feeling left out.

"Hey Thalia, are you a good actress?" Percy asked, his reply being a snort from said person. "What about you, Hazel?" Her gold eyes filled with innocence as she slowly nodded.

"This ought be fun," Piper muttered, fishing her phone out of her pocket and calling someone.

Percy, on the other hand, was staring at Annabeth with a sparkle in his eyes, and Annabeth knew immediately she would be dragged into this.

 _Oh no..._

* * *

"Who do they think they're fooling?"

Leo was pacing the floor, rubbing his hands together.

"We can see the car," Connor added.

"Well no shit," Travis said, turning onto his 2 minutes younger twin. "Anything else you have to say that's completely obvious?"

"HEY!" Leo snapped, finally fed up. "You two always get along. What's wrong now?"

"Connor suspects Katie."

"Travis is a love sick fool."

This was so not turning out the way they'd hoped.

The Stolls managed to annoy our dear Repair Boy, who was ready to kill them. He opened his mouth to **speak the incantation that would banish their souls to hell** when someone knocked on the front door.

The knocking became even more insistent as they all shared a look.

The scrawny prankster sauntered over to the door to find a dark skinned girl with wide gold eyes looking like she was near tears.

"I'm so sorry," she rushed out before Leo could even open his mouth. "My cousin just fainted on the side of the road, and I was wondering if you could help me drag her in here while I called someone to pick us up."

Leo vaguely noticed that the Stolls weren't behind him, and that there were noises near the back door, but all he could notice was the girl standing in front of him.

He was ready for something comforting to come out of his mouth when "How do you know I'm not a pedophile?" jumped out instead. Her wide eyes grew even wider, if possible.

She faltered and took a few steps back before the fire loving fool jumped closer to her. "I'm not, I swear. It's just a joke."

"Why would you joke like that?"

"To lighten the mood. Let's go get your cousin alright?"

She nodded very slowly, edging farther from Leo, turning around slowly as if afraid of keeping her back to him. All because of the pedophile comment, Leo thought.

When they neared a girl with spikey hair, Leo bent over her, his neck, unfortunately, easy to grab, as you will find out in the next five sentences.

"She looks a little pale and-AHH!"

Leo screamed as her arms went around his neck and held him into a choke hold, her eyelids fluttering open to reveal electric blue eyes.

Faintly, he heard the girl who had been wary of him scream "THE DEAD ARE WAKING!" (with the rapidly losing consciousness Leo realizing he didn't know her name), before blacking out into the darkness.

The P Team better watch their hair.

Hehe...

* * *

 **How about another seven reviews for Chapter 3? You get bad ass Thalia and two dead Stolls.**

 **In case you were wondering what the incantation was, it's "I am the McShizzle, and Taco King, and I will burn you with the flames of my hotness." It's quite popular.**

 **Thanks to the WONDERFUL GENIUS Sportygirl247 for agreeing to beta this thing. Really, with her genius and awesomeness, and my procrastination, we'll create hell for you. (Just you wait...)**

 **Do me a favor and check out Chasing Imperfection by Sportygirl247, and Just so you know by Thalassina.**

 **Up until next time,**

 **Zoë and Reyna (the sign of our genius genes)**

 **P.S. If you find out someone else is writing this story, it's because I _may_ or _may not_ be changing my name soon. And I won't give you a heads up, because I'm "independant" like that, hehe.**


End file.
